ANOTHER GUITAR SHOW
Before tackling this course, you should be comfortable with all the material from Episode 8 - How To Learn More Songs

Summary: Tips and Tricks

In this lesson Andy and Thomas take us through a variety of tips to help you achieve your goals this year! We cover barre chords, practice routines and have a lot of fun jamming!

Barre Chords: Tips & Tricks

We know that so many of you struggle with barre chords when you are trying to bridge the gap between beginner and intermediate, so Thomas and Andy take you through some great tips to help you with that. Here are the main tips:

  • >> Keep your elbow into your side (chord playing hand)
  • >> Stay on the side of your first finger with a slight curve to the first finger
  • >> Stay right on the tips of fingers 2, 3 and 4
  • >> Train fingers 2, 3 and 4 by playing easy open chords such as E major and A major with fingers 2, 3 and 4 rather than 1, 2 and 3! (as an exercises)

Ideal Practice: Try This Routine

Most guitarists don't create any kind of practice plan to follow. Therefore, practice becomes repetitive, dull and leads to little progression. See our guidelines of a great general practice routine for both beginners and intermediate players below!

    Beginners: Practice Routine


  • Time
  • 20 minutes, four or five days a week

  • What To Cover
  • Open chords (E, A, D, G, C, Em, Am, Dm etc)
  • Simple strumming patterns
  • Simple single note riffs and scales (E minor pentatonic, C major scale
  • Simple songs using these core elements

  • Try This Course...
  • If you want to make sure quick progress with your guitar playing, try our beginners specific guitar gym sessions here: Beginners Guitar Gym.

    Intermediates: Practice Routine


  • Time
  • 30 minute to 1 hour, four or five days a week

  • What To Cover
  • Barre chords
  • Advanced open chords (A/Dsus2 and 4, maj7 chords, dominant 7 chords etc)
  • Major scale position 1, major and minor pentatonic position 1 + extensions
  • More advanced players should work towards learning these scales in all 5 positions, particularly the pentatonic shapes (both minor and major!)
  • 16th strumming, syncopated rhythms and accents
  • Learn basic music theory focusing on the chords in the 5 common guitar keys (diatonic chords aka Nashville number system) The five common guitar keys in order are C, G, D, A and E (which goes in order of the amount of sharps and flats each key has!)

  • Try This Course...
  • If you are looking for some serious structure to your intermediate learning, try these two courses: Intermediate Chords & Rhythm, Intermediate Lead Guitar.

Lead Guitar: 5 Pentatonic Shapes

As Thomas talks about during the show, learning the 5 shapes of the pentatonic well is absolutely crucial. Below we have written out the 5 pentatonic shapes, plus the super cool guitar gym exercise Thomas used in the video.

Ready to move on? Remember to check out every lesson in this unit first – then try the next unit...

Episode 10 - Electric Guitar Riffs Explosion!

In today's episode, Andy and Thomas take a look at rock riffs! How are they written, what makes a great riff. We take 3 awesome rock riffs to analyse, and even try to learn our own!